Special counsel’s office is pleading with Cannon to reverse to recent unsealing decisions they say would identify two dozen witnesses an expose them to threats.
They say Cannon’s rulings were “clear error” — defying 11th circuit precedent — and would cause ‘manifest injustice’
Here, Smith says Cannon gave short shrift to concerns about witness safety despite threats to herself and others that other judges have raised alarms about.
Among materials prosecutors want fully redacted: FBI interview reports of witnesses who worried about being publicly exposed, testimony that reveals nonpublic details about Mar-a-Lago layout, ID of a WH aide who testified about how presidents review classified info.
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The first page is pretty blunt: Biden disclosed things and retained things he shouldn’t have, but it falls short of provable criminal conduct. Also paints an unflattering portrait of Biden as egotistical and self-reverential justice.gov/storage/report…
MORE: Hur explicitly distinguishes Biden's case from Trump's, who he says presents more "aggravating facts." justice.gov/storage/report…
BREAKING: Donald Trump is *NOT* immune from prosecution, DC Circuit rules.
Details TK
The unanimous ruling is a sweeping win for Jack Smith. and prosecutors. "Any executive immunity that may have proteceted him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution."
The decision is thorough and backed by a bipartisan group of judges that includes Karen Henderson, who has previously sided with Trump on key questions of executive power.
JUST IN: Jack Smith provides new details about the origins of the classified documents case against Trump, including how Biden WH counsel came to be involved — with knowledge and participation of Trump's representatives. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Smith repeatedly describes the "cautious" and "incremental approach" that government officials took toward Trump's retention of sensitive documents. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Prosecutors accuse Trump attorneys of making ominous sounding claims about an "undifferentiated" Biden administration when, drilling down, it's distinct career officials at different agencies exercise "specific portfolios and responsibilities." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
HAPPENING NOW: Sentencing of Peter NAVARRO is underway for his defiance of a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.
Judge MEHTA immediately challenges Navarro attorneys' claim that he has "accepted responsibility" for his crime.
Stan Woodward, arguing for Navarro, says Navarro should get credit for accepting responsibility.
MEHTA says no way: "The idea that somehow he has exhibited clear demonstration of acceptance [of responsibility] is sort of hard to reconcile with the plain reading of those words."
Now Woodward is arguing that a 30-day mandatory minimum jail term for a contempt of Congress conviction shoudl not apply here. He says there are criteria the judge could look at to waive the mandatory minimum.
JUST IN: 46 Senate Republicans — including Mitch McConnell -- have signed onto a Supreme Court brief supporting Trump's effort to remain on the 2024 ballot.
The brief, notably, casts doubt on whether Trump bears responsibility for the Capitol violence. supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/2…
MCCONNELL has repeatedly stood by his post-Jan. 6 comments that Trump is "practically and morally" responsible for the violence at the Capitol.
The brief doesn't attempt to label whether Jan. 6 was an insurrection — a key question that SCOTUS could consider.
NEW: McConnell and 45 other Senate Republicans joined about 130 members of the House GOP in supporting Trump's position re the 14th Amendment.
NEW: In his fight for immunity from prosecution, Donald Trump’s latest refrain is that the campaign was ‘long over’ by the time he pressured states to overturn the results.
But that’s not what he told supporters — or the Supreme Court — at the time.
Notably, Trump’s Supreme Court declaration in 2020 influenced an appeals court to recently decide that he was *not* immune from Jan. 6-related lawsuits. So it’s not just a simple rhetorical shift. politico.com/news/2024/01/1…
And there’s evidence the courts considering Trump’s claim of immunity from Jack Smith’s *criminal* charges are mindful of the former president’s shifting characterizations. politico.com/news/2024/01/1…